Priming mixture



Patented Aug. 21, 1934 UNETE$ @FEQE PRHVHNG MIXTURE Willi Briin, Bridgeport, Conn, assign'or to Renoington Arms Company, Inc., a corporation of Delaware No Drawing. Application October 19, 1931, Serial No. 569,840

8 Claims.

.IOT proper relation to each other, as Well as in proper position in the shell rim or primer cup.

According to one method of ammunition manufacture, priming compositions are prepared and loaded into the primer cup or shell rim in a 151 moistened condition, this method being commonly referred to as wet loading. Mixtures which are loaded wet subsequently lose a substantial part of their moisture and may not adhere properly to the metal of their container; rough hanidling may dislodge them, or the impact of the firing pin, which should ignite them, may merely knock them loose from the container. To obviate such difiiculties prior practice has involved the use of certain adhesives either incorporated in .the primary material or dropped into the shell or primer cup at the time of loading. Gum arabic, gum tragacanth, glue, casein and shellac, have been thus used, but these materials add nothing to the explosive or combustible character of the .priming composition; on the contrary, they may be positively detrimental; and the necessity for the use of such a binder has frequently rendered impracticable the use of a priming composition which was otherwise highly desirable.

The present invention contemplates a priming mixture ingredient which is sensitive to shock, has excellent fuel properties, and at the same time serves as a binder. The material is a derivative of trinitro benzoic acid. The chemical properties of this substance are peculiar in that the para nitro group, as well the carboxyl group, acts as an acid, and thus salts other than trinitro benzoates may be formed. Such a lead salt has been prepared as follows:

A solution of the proportions of 2.6 grams trinitro benzoic acid and 1.2 grams sodium hydroxide in 60 0.0. water and 30 cc. alcohol, is dropped into a solution of 5.25 grams lead nitrate in 30 0.0. of water and 30 cc. alcohol. The solutions i'are prepared at room temperature, and the precipitation is conducted at room temperature. The precipitate is then filtered ofi and washed .with 50% alcohol. Said precipitate has a lead content of 53.64%, closely approaching the 53.33% theoretical lead content of a compound It is deficient in oxygen and exhaving the composition Cl4H40l8N6Pb3, and the probable formula:

' J; o NOT-C/ CNOz NOz-C NJ-N02 H |3 H H on /l IO\ 5 o o o Such nitro compounds, in which the nitro group acts as an acid, have been called nitroic acids, and their salts nitroic salts. The novel lead salt of trinitro benzoic acid of the above formula will be called lead dinitro benzoate nitroate. This material has been found to be highly useful as a binder and explosive fuel in ammunition priming mixtures, of which the following may be taken as typical:

Per cent These mixtures, however, are merely typical. For example, mercury fulminate, basic lead picrate, diazodinitrophenol, lead methylene diisonitro-amine, or other explosive material sensitive to shock and/or deficient in oxygen, may be used in place of or in addition to lead trinitroresorcinate and/or guanylnitrosaminoguanyltetracene; and barium nitrate, lead chromate, lead peroxide, cadmium peroxide, etc., may be used as oxidizers with or without the addition of such fuels as antimony sulphide and/or calcium silicide. 1

Lead dinitro benzoate nitroate being itself sensitive to shock, its use as a binder actually tends 100 to increase rather than reduce the sensitiveness of priming mixtures. At the same time its oxygen deficiency permits a reduction in the quantity of the fuel ingredient. It thus has the extraordinary quality of combining in a single 105 substance reaction characteristics which have hitherto required the use of three diiierent substances. Applicant being the first to discover the utility of a nitroic salt or a salt of trinitro benzoic acid as a priming mixture ingredient 119 for any purpose, the appended claims are to be broadly construed.

What is claimed is:

1. An explosive composition containing lead di-nitro benzoate nitroate.

2. The new compound lead di-nitro benzoate nitroate.-

3. An ammunition priming mixture containing a nitroic lead salt of trinitro benzoic acid.

4. An ammunition priming mixture containing lead di-nitro benzoate nitroate.

5. A priming mixture containing a combustion initiating ingredient, an oxidizing ingredient, and a fuel ingredient which includes lead di-nitro benzoate nitroate.

6. The method of making a nitroic lead salt of trinitro benzoic acid which comprises the addition to a solution of lead nitrate in water and alcohol of a solution of trinitro benzoic acid and sodium hydroxide in water and alcohol; and the recovery of the resulting precipitate.

7. The method of making nitroic lead salts of trinitro benzoic acid which comprises the addition to a solution of lead nitrate in water and alcohol of a solution of trinitro benzoic acid and sodium hydroxide in water and alcohol; and the recovery of the resulting precipitate by filtration and washing in alcohol.

8. The method of making a nitroic lead salt of trinitro benzoic acid which comprises the addi tion to a "solution of 5.25 grams of lead nitrate in 30 c.c. of water and 30 c.c. of alcohol of a solution of 2.6 grams of trinitro benzoic acid and 1.2 grams of sodium hydroxide in c.c. of water and 30 c.c. of alcohol; and the recovery of the resulting precipitate.

c WILLI BRtiN. 

